Biography
Önder Özkoç grew up listening to folk songs sung by his mother and father, experiencing music not merely as a discipline to be learned, but as a natural part of the cultural world in which he had been immersed since childhood. For this reason, he describes his approach to composition not so much as an attempt to invent a new and artificial musical language, but as a process of discovering a natural mode of expression nourished by the sonic memory of the geography in which he lives.
At the heart of his compositional approach lies the musical heritage shaped over centuries by Anatolia and, more broadly, the cultural geography of makam. For Özkoç, however, tradition is not simply a historical legacy to be preserved. On the contrary, it is one of the most vital creative resources for contemporary artistic production. From this perspective, his works seek to establish new relationships between makam-based musical thought and contemporary compositional techniques, while creating shared spaces of expression between the sonic worlds of different cultures.
His works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo instruments, voice, educational settings, and various instrumental combinations bring together formal clarity, organic development, sensitivity to timbre, and musical thought rooted in cultural memory within a coherent aesthetic framework. Rather than relying on direct quotation, his music foregrounds the transformative power of cultural memory. His works therefore move beyond superficial correspondences between traditional and contemporary music, exploring instead the deeper modes of musical thought they may share.
Alongside his artistic practice, his work as an educator and researcher forms an integral part of his creative identity. His research focuses particularly on the musics of the makam geography, contemporary Turkish music, cultural intersections, modal thought, and composition pedagogy, all of which occupy an important place in both his academic publications and teaching. In recent years, he has increasingly concentrated on contemporary models of composition education grounded in modal and makam-based musical cultures, as well as pluralistic approaches that may offer alternatives to predominantly Eurocentric models of composition.
Özkoç has participated as a composer and speaker in concerts, festivals, symposia, and educational programs in various countries. He has given invited lectures and seminars on Traditional Turkish Music, contemporary Turkish music, and intercultural composition at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, the Gheorghe Dima National Academy of Music in Romania, and as part of Du Vert à l’Infini – Festival des Musiques Plurielles in France. He has also presented papers at international symposia held in Moscow.
He began his higher education in 1996 in the Department of Economics (English) at Hacettepe University. In 2000, he continued his studies at the Composition Department of the Ankara State Conservatory at Hacettepe University, where he studied composition with Sevgi Ünal and Serdar Muhatov. He completed his master’s degree and Proficiency in Art under the supervision of Turgay Erdener.
From 2008 to 2021, Özkoç served as a lecturer at the Ankara State Conservatory of Hacettepe University. Since 2021, he has been a faculty member at Ankara Music and Fine Arts University. After receiving the academic title of Associate Professor, he assumed the position of Head of the Department of Composition. He teaches composition, harmony, counterpoint, and musical analysis at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
For more information: ozkoconder.com
